and a little worried. I had my aortic valve replaced in 2013 and I now have a very good pig valve. For the most part I have more energy, but I do struggle with Afib. I am a runner and I run everyday and they say my heart is strong. I was taken off blood thinners after my...

When i was sixteen years old i was diagnosed with
endocarditis. Its a bacteria that atacks the mitral valve
and then it turns into a veggie (basically its a piece of
a virus growing on the mitral valve) its caused by black
mold. At first the hospitial thought i had a...

an ASD, a couple valve issues, and a membrane that was growing and redirecting blood flow.
Because of my surgery, I missed one of my favorite bands, Of Mice and Men, in concert. Their lead singer, Austin Carlile, had open heart surgery to to correct issues caused by Marfan's...

I had open heart surgery in 1972 when I was 4 y/o. It was a congenital mitral valve repair (a hole in the valve) and was patched with a graft.
Today at 42, almost 40 years later I can tell you that my life has been quite normal and honestly as much as I abused my body with...

On July 3, 2013 I found out that I had severe aortic stenosis. On Aug 2, 2013 Dr David Adams performed OHS on me and replaced my calcified bicuspid aortic valve.
It is now 15 weeks later and I feel great. I am exercising daily and thinking about running the NYC marathon in...

3 months after my first son was born I had open heart surgery. It was something I was not prepared for and never expected. Before I had my surgery I'd see other people with their scar and think "holy **** that's scary, I couldn't imagine having to get that done". One night I...

I had a quadruple by-pass and an aortic valve replacement at 56. No stitches which makes it nice. Have been in and out of the hospital since surgery with chest pain but was told everything will get better as time passes. For the last week and a half I have been having chest and...

I'm so glad I found all of you to ask my questions too! I am a 25 yr old female now and I was born about 4 Mnths premature so couple days after my birth I had open heart surgery. I'm not sure yet what specific one but my scar is on the left side of my body. when I was 16 I...

Hi, Im 24 years and just recently had my 3rd open heart. I was what they call the "blue baby", when i was 8 days old i had my first open heart. I had trasnposition of the great arteries, i also have two holes in my heart and vsd. My 2nd open heart was when i was 6 because my...

i had a mild heart attack a few days ago, ended up in the hospital and now theyve kept me until my surgery scheduled for 11/29/11, and I am scared. Although the fear comes and goes, deep down I am afraid of the what could happen if things do not go right. I am afraid of the...

when I was a day old the 2nd when I was 4 and the last when I was 6 and I almost died I actually did die on the table and was in a coma for a year and had to relearn everything over again my condition is pulmonary atresia and I have to get a heart transplacement next and I don't...

I am Danielle I am 19 I live in Harrisburg Pennsylvaina I had 2 open heart suguries back in 1991 when I was born and I had my second sugurey in 2007.. I also had Sugurey on my right eye but I do not remember when I had it done.. And I just had a stint put in my leg this past July...

I was very young when I was told there was a whole in my heart, but my parents were told it could fix it self because it was such a small defect and I was so young. Years past now im about 13 years old and I was noticing that I couldn't run around like all my friends and was...

I am an open-heart surgery survivor. I was born with a heart defect and had corrective surgeries at 6 and 7. To be honest, my parents thought all was fixed and so I never went to a cardiologist again. Then one day at work as a Financial Advisor my heart started racing. I felt...

Hi
In May of this year (2009) I had emergent cabg. three jumps.
I am a Registered Nurse who has worked in Open heart units and in Surgical and Mecical ICU for about 18 years.
I swear because I knew what was going on it went a whole lot worse than it should have.&nbsp...

I was 15 when I had my surgery. It was to repair an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD).
My parents divorced when I was 7 and I guess I did not really start to be angry about it until I was 13/14. I was mad at my parents and I hated my school. So, I started to pretend like I was...

Hello just wanted to share my experience with open heart surgery I was born with VSD other wise a hole in the heart live with it for 47 years until 8 days ago they closed it I didn't want to have because I felt okay but when they got in there it was a different story the hole was...

I was born with coarctation of the aorta. Aortic coarctation is a narrowing of part of the aorta (the major artery leading out of the heart). It is a type of birth defect. When I was born I wasn't breathing so immediately they gave me medicine and got me stabilized. I had surgery...

I have a thoracic aortic aneurism that needs to be repaired. Its just a matter of when, I am still waiting for the appointment with the surgeon. Anyways I have googled myself into this state of panic. I am high anxiety in general and this news has made me crazy. I seemed to be...

(scimitar syndrome) i was lucky enough to be married to a very strong loyal husband that put up with my moods and his mother flew over both times from sao paulo to help before
the surgeries to help during recovery, its making me think of a change in careers... my next mri is...

I started to have problems with shortness of breath, chest pain, arm and neck pain and breaking out in a cold sweat and shaking when I was 38 years old. my father had stints put in on several occassions and I suppose to be honest I feared the day I may have to do the same. I put...

I was born with aortic inefficiency. I had my first surgery at the age of 17. The Ross procedure where my pulmonary valve was put where my aortic was and a pig valve in the other. After the surgery a small aneurysm was spotted and checked yearly until I was 29 when the...

Well, I was a classic heart attack. 4 sprays of nitro got me to the ER and a stent. The other 3 arteries needed a bypass ASAP. So 2 weeks later they sawed me open and snagged a vein from my leg and did a remarkably artistic job of sewing my heart some new irragation. It all went...

stories on this blog really helped me prepare for my operation, and I feel it's time for me to share mine. I'm 17 years old. I had my first operation as a baby and I had my second open heart surgery just over 6 months ago. Before my operation I was among the top ten 800 runners...

The surgery was preformed at Doernbechers Childrens hospital.
I nearly died twice with in post op care because of complications. A-fib and a pericardial infusion of 776 cc's of fluid surrounding my heart.
Currently i am slightly over weight, and have been diagnosed with...

I never realize that many people had heart surgeries at their young ages. I am going to have my 3rd heart surgery in less than 2 weeks, I am not worried or scared of death, it seems like i am well prepared, trying to do everything, write down everything that if i die in the...

my LDA was 100% blocked and the only symptoms I had was the night it happened..ache/heavy left arm, sweaty, vomiting for about 3 he's before I had my mom drive me to the ER. ( the cardiologist told my family had I waited 20 more minutes I wouldn't have lived). I am/was normal...

After 13 stents my Doctor told me I could not just keep eating nitro pills like M&Ms and expect to stay alive. My first few times of having stents put in was not bad. You lay on the little table as the Dr.says something like "big stick comming now".It was not too bad and when...

i was born 3 of 5 in my family. my mother had Preeclampsia with everyone of her children (having had 11 miscarriages over the years). all of us were c-sections. and because of the high risk pregnancy given a full run down, checked head to toe right after birth. that's when they...

Hi everyone,
Last year I found out I had a heart tumour. From the accidental diagnosis to lying on the surgeon's table was a matter of months. I was confused, scared and had no idea what was going on. I had the tumour removed from the right ventricle. It was a benign haemangioma...

After years of waiting for the right day to be announced for my surgery, the cardiologists said stated October of 2011 would be the time frame for my life changing event. Unfortunately, due to some difficulties, that didn't quite happen. Who knew an allergy could arise from an...

for open heart surgery on March 27th. I have a congenital defect: apical hypertrophic cardiopathy, which has caused AF and aflutter to the point where I can't enjoy the activities I enjoy -- hiking, skiing, snowboarding. So they are going to perform a Cox IV Maze procedure...

AH years ago when not much was known compared to now i had heart surgery i was 5 years old i still have the scar today it did not really alter my life that much i played football tackle, baseball basketball the only thing was iwould get tired fast the doctors told me to rest...

and I haven't posted anything yet. But I really think this is the perfect way of starting.
I was a newborn when I had my first surgery, and I've had four in all my life; two of them were heart surgery (the other two kidney and oesophagus surgery). I am very proud of my scars...

after I was born but the doctors just told my parents to leave me there, forget about me, and try again because there was no way I was going to live. I had a hole between the upper chambers (ASD), a hole between the lower chambers (VSD), my arteries carrying blood away were...

and growing up with Marfan's syndrome I was told that a little chest pain here and there was normal but yearly they kept an eye on my heart since I was 2 by doing EKGs and Echocardiograms. When I was a teenage my heart doctor actually told us my heart was doing better, little...

2015. I'm having a very difficult time with this. So depressed and no one to talk with about it. I've had 2 setbacks , the most recent was a car accident only 5 weeks after surgery. I was at red light and hit from behind. All the progress I made is gone. Now along with the aches...